The Degenerate Race
by The Brigadier
Summary: The 11th Doctor takes his companions, Amy and Rory for a spontaneous trip to the Isle of Man. A pleasant walk turns into a deadly race against time when the malevolent Cybermen step out the shadows...


The TARDIS gave its familiar materialisation noise and it's large blue exterior forced its way into the atmosphere. The box looked out of place in its landscape as usual. It was sitting on a bank of a small stream surrounded by trees. Across the stream was a wooden fence that separated the time machine and the woodland area from a flock of sheep that grazed peacefully. On the other side of the TARDIS was more dense woodland area. The doors opened and Rory Pond stepped out. 'Thrilling' he remarked, sarcastically. 'Yes it is, isn't it' The Doctor said, appearing behind the nurse, not taking in Rory's sarcastic tone. 'Doctor, Rory was being sarcastic' Amy Pond said, joining the pair. 'Oh' The Doctor said rather crestfallen. Amy noticed this and tried to cheer the Time Lord up, 'well I love it.' 'Great!' The Doctor smiled, instantly cheered up. 'Why are we here?' Rory asked. 'You always ask that, Rory, that is so predictable, its as predictable as people saying, 'its bigger on the inside.'' 'Well, that's me, Rory the predictable time traveller' Rory admitted. The Doctor began walking away from the two and Rory began following The Doctor at a brisk pace. Amy rolled her eyes, pulled the TARDIS doors shut and hurried to catch up. The Doctor was leading his companions, the opposite direction from the TARDIS, into the dense woodland. 'Oh I love Earth,' The Doctor cried, unexpectedly. 'Don't you?' 'No, it's terrible' Rory said, giving another round of sarcasm. 'That's a pity, I thought you loved it' The Doctor said, again not taking in the nurse's sarcastic tone. 'That's a bit more of Rory's trademark sarcasm and the answer is yes, Doctor, we both love Earth. Now I don't want to be a pest but you didn't answer Rory's question. Why are we here?' Amy asked. 'A walk' The Doctor replied firmly. Rory gave a laugh. 'A walk!' 'Yes, what's the problem with that' The Doctor said, defensively. 'It just seems like a funny thing for a man with a time machine to be doing.' 'Everybody needs a good healthy walk. It's part of a healthy diet, I believe' The Doctor explained. Rory scoffed, 'Doctor, we have been travelling with you for–' he paused and turned to his wife for assistance. 'A long time' Amy helped her husband. 'Yeah, we've been travelling with you for a long time, and we've never stopped for "a good healthy walk," its so un-you.' 'That's because we've always been battling aliens or saving planets. We get plenty of exercise from running' The Doctor said. 'You have to admit Rory, there is an awful lot of running' Amy said, backing up The Doctor. 'At times I do, love the running' Rory admitted. 'We were just at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games, we were sitting down, and I thought we could do with a nice stroll.' Rory sighed, letting it go. He looked down at his shoes. The Doctor seemed satisfied and the trio walked on. By now, the TARDIS was a blue dot on the horizon behind them. 'So, the reason we're here is nothing to do with the message on your psychic paper' Amy asked. The Doctor looked away and said, 'message?' 'Yes Doctor, message, the one that I nearly got a glimpse of.' The look on the Doctor's face showed he knew the game was up. 'I received a message from someone whose ship was crashed here.' The Doctor withdrew his psychic paper and showed it to the two. They had stopped and were standing in a larger clump of trees than before. The message on the paper read: STARDATE SY789 – 21. SHIP IN NEED OF REPAIRS. CREW WANTED. HAVE CRASHED ON EARTH. TRACE MESSAGE. 'What does that mean?' Rory asked, confused. The Doctor and Amy gave him a look that questioned his idiocy. 'It means,' The Doctor began explaining, 'that a ship has crashed on Earth, in need of repairs and that we are supposed to trace the message to here.' 'What about the "crew wanted" bit?' Rory asked. 'I'm not sure, maybe some crew members died in the crash and they need help. We'll find out shortly. I did a scan on the TARDIS monitor and it said the ship is near. In the next field to be exact' The Doctor announced. 'I knew we weren't here just for a walk' Rory said, triumphantly.

The TARDIS crew stood in the centre of a large field and looked around. 'What!' the Doctor cried. 'Where's the ship?' Amy asked. 'This doesn't work out, the TARDIS scan said the ship was here.' 'Maybe it's up there?' Rory suggested. The trio looked up to see a cloudless blue sky. 'Wait, what about down below us' Rory said. The Doctor's eyes lit up. 'Good idea?' Rory asked. The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the sky. It began beeping slowly and as the Doctor aimed it at the ground, it beeped louder. 'Bingo! We've found it. Well done, Rory!' The Doctor knelt down and pressed his ear against the grassy earth. Amy smiled at Rory, he recognised that smile as the one she always gave when she was proud of him. Rory was dancing inside but his dancing stopped when Amy knelt down on her knees to join The Doctor. 'So where is it?' Amy asked, still smiling. Rory glared at the pair. He hated that Amy gave The Doctor her proud-of-you smile, if she gave him it, she'd be smiling twenty-four, seven. 'I think it's at least a mile down' The Doctor estimated, still with his ear pressed to the ground. 'A mile!' Amy exclaimed, shocked. 'If it's a mile down then how come there is no destroyed trees, fried cattle. If you see a movie where a meteor crashes into the Earth it usually leaves a trail of debris, loads of dead bodies and the earth is all burnt.' 'I can't answer that question, because I don't know the answer,' The Doctor replied 'but I know how we get down there.' The Doctor and Amy stood up. 'How?' asked Rory. 'Well, I know there's a cavern down there, the ship is at the heart of it.' 'How do you know there is a cavern there?' asked Rory. 'I can hear it' The Doctor answered, simply. 'You can hear it?' Rory mocked. 'What, is your 'spidey sense tingling?'' 'No, I can hear the low echo, you can only hear it if you concentrate your mind on it' The Doctor explained. Although this reply sounded ridiculous, Rory knew The Doctor spoke the truth so he decided to keep his mouth shut. 'Great, caverns, you've got to love a cavern' Amy grinned, enthusiastically. 'We can get there via the TARDIS' The Doctor said. 'So, come along, Ponds.' Suddenly The Doctor broke into a sprint and began running towards the TARDIS. Amy joined him instantly but Rory lagged behind.  
After reaching the clump of trees where they The Doctor had shown them the psychic paper, Rory paused to catch his breath. Amy and The Doctor were quite far ahead and Rory didn't have the breath to call their names. As he lent against a pole, commenting to himself about his unfitness, he heard a noise. From Rory's experience of running down space station corridors and encountering all sorts of technology, he recognised the sound of a high-tech door. It was the sound of a door opening, Rory was sure of it, but where it was, he hadn't the foggiest. After regaining his strength and breath he explored the noise then he saw it. Wedged between two large rhododendron bushes was what looked like a small metal wall. In the middle of the 'wall' was an open doorway – obviously the source of the noise. Alongside the door was a control panel that Rory suspected was the door mechanism. Slowly he made his way towards the door, checking for any signs of life. His mind told him that this must be a part of the crashed ship. From memory, Rory knew that he shouldn't go into places that look suspicious and more importantly alien without alerting The Doctor but Rory was annoyed at The Doctor for winning Amy over that he stopped himself from telling him and decided to do this by himself.  
He paused, hovering just by the doorway. From inside he could hear a metal clunk. It got louder and louder in a pattern, one, two, one, two, one, two. As the sound got closer to him, it slowly dawned to Rory what the noise was – footsteps. Backing away from the doorway he crouched behind one of the rhododendron bushes, making sure he had a good view of the doorway.  
Taking Rory, completely by surprise, the door slid shut. Curious, Rory got out from behind his hiding place and moved towards the door. 'Hello?' he called. 'Is anybody there? Are you hurt, I'm a nurse and I've got a friend called The Doctor, he can help.' The door opened up again and someone stepped out – a man. A metal man. 'Who are you?' Rory asked. 'We,' said a cold electronic voice 'are the Cybermen and you will be deleted. Delete, delete.'

The Doctor pulled out the TARDIS key and inserted it into the lock. The doors opened and Amy and The Doctor stepped in, The Doctor ran straight to the console and began typing in coordinates. Amy stood by the doorway and said, 'Doctor?' 'Yes?' he replied. 'We've lost Rory' Amy said, panic was quite obvious in her voice. The Doctor ignored her and began pressing more buttons on the TARDIS. 'What are you doing?' she cried. 'Doing a life form scan' The Doctor assured. He stopped pressing buttons and looked at the scanner. Amy joined him. 'The radar shows signs of sheep and the occasional rabbit but no Rory' The Doctor told Amy. 'He can't just have disappeared, scan below the surface.' The Doctor twisted some knobs and pressed a few keys on the typewriter, before having another look at the scanner. This time it gave a bigger picture than before. One dot showed up. 'There he is, about half a mile down. He must have discovered a route to the ship. Clever, Rory' The Doctor smiled. 'Now Pond shut the doors and lets go.' Amy full of relief ran down the steps and slammed the doors shut, then stayed by the doors. The Doctor pulled a lever then the TARDIS dematerialised.

The TARDIS reappeared twenty seconds later, half a mile below its previous location. It sat inside an empty room about the size of a cupboard. The bulky blue box exterior took up three quarters of the space leaving a small gap for Amy and The Doctor to get out. Using his sonic screwdriver The Doctor opened the door for the pair and they stepped into a corridor. 'Do you know where we are?' Amy asked 'What type of ship we're in?' The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver as if it was a gun. 'Yes. We're in a Cyber ship; buried under the Earth, ready to convert millions. Amy let out a small gasp. 'I never asked. Where exactly are we?' 'The Isle of Man' The Doctor said, without showing an other expression than anger. 'I despise the Cybermen, building their army by destroying lives. The last time I saw them, I saw a small group of them in Colchester, in a similar situation as this except their ship was really damaged. I was with Craig, you remember Craig?' 'Who doesn't?' Amy smiled. The Doctor smiled but it faded quickly. The pair began moving down the corridor until they reached a door. The sonic screwdriver whirred into life and the door slid open with a clunk. In the doorway stood a Cyberman. 'Stay back!' The Doctor shouted. 'Or I'll use this.' The Cyberman moved forward, 'primitive technology, you shall fall at our hands.' 'Not today thank you. But first, before you kill us, what are you doing here?' The Doctor asked, still looking angry. 'Our ship crashed here over two thousand years ago, destroying the island. We lost many Cyber forms and sent out a distress call' the Cyberman explained. 'Yes, we got it. That's why we're here' The Doctor laughed. 'You will be two new members of our crew. First you must be converted into Cybermen.' The Cyberman advanced on Amy and The Doctor so they turned and ran back down the corridor. The Cyberman hurried after them taking fast clunky steps. The door at the far end opened and the pair darted in.

Rory was standing inside a lift standing next to a Cyberman. After threatening to kill him, the Cyberman had assessed him and categorized him as, 'convertible.' Unsure of what this meant, Rory hoped that it wouldn't be a fate worse than death. He had no idea who the Cybermen were but didn't like them. The lift ground to a halt and Rory stepped into an oval shaped room with a large control bank at the centre. The Cyberman stood the lift waiting for Rory to leave. Rory stepped out and the metal man swiftly followed. 'You will be the first in a worldwide line of new Cybermen' it commanded. In hell, Rory thought. 'Move!' it forced Rory towards a doorway. 'Stay there!' it left Rory by the closed door and went to the control bank. The Cyberman hit several buttons and the door opened to reveal a room the size of a changing cubicle in a clothes shop. There was a bright red light emanating from it. 'Step into the chamber or you will be deleted.' 'I'd rather take the latter, thanks' Rory said. The Cyberman faced him and pointed one arm at him. A small gun appeared at the wrist aiming at him. 'Get in the chamber and I will begin the conversion.' Suddenly a door at the other end of the oval room opened and The Doctor and Amy stepped in. 'Hello Rory!' The Doctor cried, instantly noticing him. 'Doctor? Cyberman!' Amy said, pointing at the metal menace. 'Right,' The Doctor acknowledged. 'Sadly I can't do anything about this. So what we have to do is….. run!' The Doctor and Amy ran past the other side of the control bank narrowly avoiding a laser shot at them. 'Rory!' Amy shouted. 'Yeah?' Rory stood, unsure of what to do. 'Come on!' 'Right, sorry.' Rory ran and joined the pair. They reached a door and it opened automatically. The trio turned to see the Cyberman making a break for the door towards them still with his gun aimed at them. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out from inside his tweed jacket and sonic-d the door. After zapping it a few more times, he stopped to catch his breath. 'Let's get a few things clear. We are in a crashed Cyber ship underneath The Isle of Man with a Cyberman on the other side of this door and the TARDIS is through the door and quite a few others. So what do we do?' 'Defeat the Cybermen before they turn this island into their starting point for a global invasion and get out of here' Amy said. 'Good idea,' Rory smiled 'but how do we stop them?' 'Simple. I turn their converters against them.' The Doctor said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. 'What'd you mean?' Rory asked. 'The Cybermen convert people to Cyber form by taking their brains out of their human bodies and placing that brain inside a Cyber suit. If we force them into the 'conversion chambers' then the machine will take out their brains, leaving them as empty suits' The Doctor explained. 'What about the brains?' Amy asked. 'The brains will wither and die. There is nothing I can do, I can't reverse the process. I can't put the brains back into the bodies. The human body doesn't work like that.' 'Another thing. How do we force the Cybermen into the conversion chambers?' Rory questioned. 'The Cybermen suits are very complicated to work, they are built with a 'travel inhibitor.' A basic program that tells the Cybermen how to move. If I change that then I can turn their feet into remote controls and walk them in to the conversion chambers.' 'Sounds difficult' Amy said. 'It is, but first we need to get to the bridge of this ship' The Doctor replied. As if telepathic, the trio began to glow blue. Then they disappeared – teleported.

Six Cybermen watched as their enemy The Doctor and his companions teleported to the bridge. They stood in the same positions they were in, in their previous location. The Doctor strode forward, facing the Cybermen who stood unmoved. Amy and Rory gathered their surroundings and joined the Time Lord. 'Cybermen!' The Doctor called through gritted teeth. 'We know you, Time Lord' one called, and the six aimed their guns at their deadly enemy and his friends. 'Cowards! The lot of you' The Doctor said, flicking his hand as if to shoo the Cybermen away. 'Who are you to call us cowards?' the Cyberman who spoke earlier replied. 'I'm The Doctor, The Oncoming Storm, Terra Sigma, I have so many names and I call you cowards. Put it this way, you hear us conspiring against you and you know that I can defeat you. Scared, you use a teleport to get me here to kill you. You don't want me to destroy you.' 'Correct' the Cyberman said. 'I take it that you are the Cyber Leader' The Doctor assumed. 'Yes, I am designated Cyber Leader. Our previous leader died in the crash.' 'Ah, yes, the crash. We got your message. You crashed donkeys ago, your pal downstairs told us that. So wait, your ship is in trouble' 'We hit a solar storm, our course faltered and we were redirected to the nearest planet – Earth' the Cyberman corrected. 'OK, you crash into the Irish Sea, when the Isle of Man doesn't exist. Your ship is stuck underwater' The Doctor smiled. 'Not underwater. Before we crashed, we activated an air shell' the Cyber Leader said. 'What's an air shell?' Amy asked, standing behind The Doctor. 'It's a bit like a force field but provides everybody inside air' The Doctor explained. 'I thought force fields give you air, like in all the movies' Amy said, confused. 'It's quite the contrary, force fields block out air.' The Doctor turned back to the Cybermen. 'You activate an air shell and your ship lays dormant. Members of your crew including the deceased Cyber Leader were destroyed in the crash and you just waited.' The Cybermen didn't say anything. 'Oh, this is too good' The Doctor laughed. Amy and Rory looked confused. 'The Cyber ship is stuck at the bottom of the sea and soon bits of rock start to form around the air shell. By the time we arrive the whole of what we know now as the Isle of Man has formed around the Cybermen's air shell. This ship is the core of the Isle of Man.' 'You find this funny, Doctor?' the Cyber Leader said. 'Yes, because normally the Cybermen are powerful. They stand and destroy civilisations, conquering everything and now you are stuck on Earth underneath a rock in the middle of the sea sending out pathetic help messages' The Doctor laughed. 'Cybermen are always powerful, we have power over you' the six Cybermen all said in unison. 'What power?' The Doctor asked. 'The power to choose wither you live or die.' The Doctor was quick to respond, 'nobody has that power. Nobody, nothing has the power to control who lives or who dies.' 'You are quick to say so. In the chamber downstairs you planned our deaths. You decided that we should die' the Cyber Leader said. For the first time ever, Amy and Rory saw The Doctor stuck for words. 'That is because you are pure evil. You are going to kill others' The Doctor said finally. 'Time Lord, you are referring to the human phrase, "the ends justifies the means." We are also not going to kill others' the Cyber Leader retorted. 'Oh, that's fine then, the Cybermen have gone good, you'll never hurt another human being. Amy, Rory and I will just be off then.' 'If you examine our ship, we do not have enough power to destroy anything.' 'Well you seemed pretty trigger happy to kill Rory, earlier on' The Doctor accused. 'We only have the power to convert a small amount of humans. All the Cybermen in front of you are converted natives of this island' the Cyber Leader replied. 'I'm sorry but right now, telling me you've killed six humans, ordinary, amazing human beings is not going to help your case' The Doctor shouted. The Cybermen seemed taken aback. 'You said, we could examine your ship. Let's have a look, shall we?' The Doctor moved towards a nearby console and began scrolling hurriedly at the monitor. All six Cybermen pointed their guns at The Doctor. 'Your right. This ship is wrecked' The Doctor said, smiling. He withdrew his sonic screwdriver and sonic-d the console. He stood up and moved back to face his enemy. 'So you have just enough power to convert, say, seven or eight humans, that's it. You've got your guns, you can kill us that way. Looks like you've got us beaten.' 'Yes. You will surrender and prepare for conversion, Doctor' the Cyber Leader announced. 'Or, I could have just reversed the teleports we used to get here and we can escape' The Doctor smiled. Before the Cybermen could react, he raised his sonic screwdriver at the console and within seconds, Amy, Rory and The Doctor glowed blue.

They appeared where they had before just behind the door next to the conversion room. Instantly, The Doctor zapped more controls with his sonic. 'That'll stop them following us and this door should still be secure so know we're free to do as we please' he said, pleased. 'How are we going to stop them?' Rory asked. 'Blow them up' The Doctor said. 'Why?' Amy said, surprisingly. Rory turned to her and looked bewildered. 'They haven't done anything wrong.' 'They killed six people, Amy, innocent people who lived here' The Doctor assured. 'But that doesn't justify killing them. It's a bit like what the Cyber Leader said, you can't assume the end justifies the means' Amy persisted. 'Amy, you don't understand. I have met the Cybermen before and they have killed some many people, people I know, people I've loved. They have destroyed planets and besides we don't act and kill them, they'll kill us' The Doctor said. 'But not these Cybermen' Amy pleaded. 'All Cybermen are the same. Vicious killers.' Amy began to start another sentence but The Doctor silenced her. 'No, Amy! I'm going to do it and if you want to stop me, go ahead' The Doctor turned and began typing at the control bank. Instead of doing what The Doctor said, she turned and pressed her head against Rory's shoulder, holding him in a tight, emotional hug.

Fifteen minutes passed and Amy sat in a corner staring at the opposite wall. Rory stood, leaning against a control bank while The Doctor carried on using his sonic and typing at the monitor. Silence graced them and the atmosphere was tense. After a few more minutes, The Doctor finished what he was doing and stopped. 'Back to the TARDIS' he said, breaking the stillness. 'We have,' he checked his gold watch 'four minutes left until the ship's engine implodes.' 'What about the island? If the air shell supports the island and the ship explodes then won't the whole island cave in' Rory asked. 'No, the ship will be destroyed within the air shell and as long as the air shell is in place, the island will be safe' The Doctor resolved his concerns. The Time Lord hit a button on the keyboard and the door opened. Amy walked at a slow pace behind the pair, still saying nothing. 'What happened to the Cyberman that was here?' Rory asked, again. 'It must have been one of the Cybermen that we saw on the bridge' The Doctor shrugged off the question.  
The walk back to the TARDIS was a quiet and what seemed like a very long one. Rory stopped talking and The Doctor didn't have to answer any of his questions. Amy still kept her peace. They turned onto a corridor and walked up until they reached a door. The Doctor sonic-d the controls and the door slid open, revealing the royal blue of the TARDIS exterior. 'I'm glad to see that old thing' Rory smiled. 'Come on, everybody in,' he checked his watch again 'one minute left.' He opened the doors to the time machine and Amy and Rory walked in. Silence hung like a comical cartoon cloud over Amy and she still said nothing. The Doctor shut the doors and did his usual dash to the main console. Amy stood by the 'window' of the TARDIS, looking out into the empty room. 'Can we,' Amy cleared her throat 'fly outside of the ship.' The Doctor, shocked by Amy's sudden question, said, 'yes, it's possible.' 'Well can we?' she asked again? 'Why would you want to do that?' The Doctor said. 'To show you the amount of damage you can cause' Amy said. Rory suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. 'We have to go!' Rory said, realising the ship was exploding around them. The TARDIS was flung sideways and the three had to support themselves by holding onto the handlebars of the TARDIS. 'And we're off!' The Doctor dematerialised the TARDIS with a flick of a lever and Amy stared at The Doctor. 'You haven't answered my question' she said. 'OK, yes, if you want to we will. I'll go back a few minutes and show us the ship from outside' The Doctor answered. He turned to the console, flicked a few buttons and levers then the TARDIS ground to a halt. Amy turned to the 'window' and saw a extraordinary view. The silver formidable exterior of the Cyber ship stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea. Amy could see the air shell and all the underwater creatures swimming around it. The three were admiring the beauty of the scene when a large hole suddenly appeared at the heart of the ship. Fire blazed out of it and soon similar holes began appearing all over the ship. The bridge turned to a large fireball within seconds. Amy felt herself torn between hating the Cybermen and feeling sorry for them. She turned from the disaster to The Doctor. He displayed no emotion, no empathy, no sympathy for the dying Cybermen. Amy had hoped he would buckle but to little avail he remained rigid. 'Are we done here?' Rory said, sadness prominent in his voice. 'Yes' Amy said. The Doctor still gazing at the scene, pulled a lever without taking his eye off the burning Cyber ship. The view began to fade and the TARDIS dematerialised. Then The Doctor did something quite unexpected. He left his controls and walked over to his companion. 'I am so sorry' he said and drew Amy into a hug. After registering what was happening, Amy hugged him back. Rory leaned back on the TARDIS console. Suddenly the TARDIS lurched forward and Amy and The Doctor's hug was interrupted. 'Rory, what did you touch?' The Doctor said, raising his voice a little. 'Nothing, I was just leaning against the console' Rory defended himself. 'And what button did you lean against?' The Doctor asked. 'The red one' Rory pointed to a red lever. 'Why did it have to be the red one? That's the time reverbalator.' The TARDIS was still swerving around like crazy. 'What's happening?' Amy asked, smiling for the first time in a long time. 'We're going back in time, 1950, 1910, 1890, 1860!' The Doctor cheered and whooped. 'Is this good?' Rory asked. 'Normally, no, but a bit of adventure is always fun' The Doctor replied. The three were holding onto the TARDIS console. 'I could never leave this!' Amy smiled and the three all gave a knowing look.


End file.
